


A Better Tomorrow

by GlowingMechanicalHeart



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Minerva McGonagall-Centric, POV Minerva McGonagall, Post-Canon, post-epilogue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:06:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23552761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlowingMechanicalHeart/pseuds/GlowingMechanicalHeart
Summary: Everyone is reeling after the war. Herself included.
Relationships: Minerva McGonagall & Harry Potter
Comments: 4
Kudos: 33





	A Better Tomorrow

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a little something I wrote, hopefully, I did McGonagall some justice.

Everyone is reeling after the war. Herself included. Which is why she does the only thing that makes sense, help rebuild. She gives Potter, Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley some space, but she knows that she must speak with Potter sooner, rather than later.

Which is why she asks him to speak to her a week after. Potter walks into her office looking quite tired, as if he had not been sleeping well and her stomach lurches, he looks so young and bit lost. The maternal instincts rear their heads and she offers him biscuits, tea and to sit near the fire.

“I need to know,” she tells him. “Everything. There is so much that doesn’t make sense, I don’t understand a great deal of many things.” She waits.

Potter looks down to the mug on his hands, then drinks and then begins to speak. She doesn’t interrupt him at all. Lets the poor boy say his piece, and with every word and tale he speaks, it feels like a dagger to her heart. Potter doesn’t stop until he tells her everything, there are tear tracks on his cheeks and she, for once, just embraces the boy in silence and offers a little comfort. “I didn’t know,” she says and her own voice cracks. “I would have helped you had I known,” the words taste like poison on her mouth.

“I know Professor,” Potter tells her with a sad smile. “You always have.”

“You were only a boy,” her grief begins to switch into a more dangerous territory: anger. But she keeps her anger inside until Potter has left. It is only then that she stomps to the headmaster’s office. It is there, once the door has locked that she unleashes her wrath. By the time she’s done, Albus Dumbledore’s portrait has the decency to look ashamed.

That’s when she vows to do better. And she begins doing so the moment she’s appointed Headmistress. She does what Albus never bothered to do well, or wholeheartedly: make a bridge between the houses. Yes, there would be a rivalry between them always, but she would do her best to make sure there is not to the point of hatred or mistrust (unless it’s earned).

She convinces Slughorn to remain. Names Flitwick as her deputy headmaster, continues teaching configuration herself. And above all things, she makes sure the story of Voldemort is told truthfully. If they are to avoid another dark lord, the children should know the events that forged the path for Voldemort.

She knows she has an uphill battle with Slytherin. That house long has it been maligned, but she knows that is due time for that to end. Ambition is not so terrible, neither is cunning if used for good. She will not stand for mistreatment of any student under her care. Everyone will be equal in her eyes, she knows that she can’t ruin this one chance to make a better school. She knows that she must be better than her predecessor, to make the school truly united. And she’s up to the challenge.

She still greets the first years herself. Just because she wants, she sees the children she taught grow and assume positions in the working force that make her proud. Potter, Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley keep in contact with her, she’s incredibly proud of those three.

In the end, she figures that she must have done something right. Because when he retirement is announced, she receives hundreds of letters and gifts. For once, she’s overwhelmed with gratitude, even if she’s confused, she only did her job. She did the right thing.

“You might not thing what you did was special, Professor,” Potter says over tea one day, he grins at her and she can see the little boy he once was, he’s older now and so is she. “But what you did was amazing. As grateful as I am to Professor Dumbledor, you did something better. My kids love you, you know? You were both teacher and family, but it wasn’t only for them, but for many others. Merlin, you even managed to help improve Slytherin! You changed lives, Professor. For the better.”

She cries.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, hope you all enjoy.


End file.
